Forest as Subaltern Testimony: A Comparative Study of Hawthorne and Tharu Oral Narratives

Forest as Subaltern Testimony: A Comparative Study of Hawthorne and Tharu Oral Narratives
Churamoni Kandel

Abstract

This research compares Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown” with selected Tharu oral forest narratives to analyse the forest as a space of subaltern testimony. In both traditions, the forest functions as a symbolic and cultural site where silenced voices confront dominant power structures. Hawthorne’s forest represents a realm of fear, spiritual crisis, and moral ambiguity. The protagonist encounters hidden truths through shadowy figures and unsettling rituals, which expose the suppressed contradictions of Puritan society. In contrast, the forest in Tharu oral narratives emerges as a nurturing archive of ancestral memory, ecological wisdom, and communal identity. These oral narratives preserve histories that dominant social groups often ignore. They empower marginalized individuals through spiritual encounters and ecological harmony. This study employs a qualitative, interpretive approach, drawing on subaltern theory and oral-literature studies for close textual analysis. It examines both convergences and divergences in how the two traditions represent the forest. While both recognise the forest as a repository of unspoken truths, Hawthorne emphasizes psychological rupture, whereas Tharu’s narratives foreground cultural continuity and collective resilience. This comparative study demonstrates how integrating Western literary texts with South Asian Indigenous storytelling can deepen cross-cultural, ecological, and subaltern studies.